Being rich with engineering degree

<p>Is it possible? I know for sure I'm going to go to grad school because salary cap with only an undergrad degree is low. </p>

<p>But TBH I want to make a lot of money so I'm anxious whether doing an engineering degree as an undergrad is a good way to become rich. I want to end up in the business or finance world since thats where all the money is so for my grad school I'm thinking about an MBA. I read that an engineering and MBA combo is very marketable so I'm hopeful</p>

<p>cause you see my dad spent 10 years in college on engineering alone and he does make 6 digit figures but its not as high as a doctor or someone in finance. </p>

<p>So do you think its a good idea to pursue an engineering degree as an undergrad then do a business graduate if a person wants to become rich? By definition for me is making close to $200,000 when I'm old and middle-aged</p>

<p>Picking a major shouldn’t be on the amount of money your going to be making later, you might even fail badly if you are ill suited for it.</p>

<p>Pick something you want to do. Running yourself ragged on a job you don’t want to do is a good way to fail at it. Engineering can get you to 200k…but so can other majors, it all depends on your skills.</p>

<p>I’m sure the OP is implying in the question that he enjoys both engineering and business equally.</p>

<p>10 years for engineering is completely un-necessary unless you want to go into academia. Engineering + MBA is the traditional path for making money with an engineering degree, but you probably won’t actually be doing any engineering at that point, which most people move away from later in their career anyways. My suggestion from talking a lot of recent grads is to get the undergrad degree, work for a few years, then go back for an MBA or other graduate degree. If you have 30+ years of experience in a technical field coupled with good business senses then there’s no reason you can’t make 150k a year. You can check out monster.com to see what salaries are for different experience levels and jobs out there.</p>

<p>yeah I should have been clear about that</p>

<p>its not just for the money. I’m pretty good at math and more technically inclined than average. TBH I’m still thinking about engineering. If I don’t like it I’ll probably end up in finance or accounting</p>

<p>Im thinking of going straight to grad school cause if I leave school, I dont think I’ll have the will to go back</p>

<p>The traditional path to making money, anywhere, is to start your own business. It’s very hard to be “rich” working for someone else.</p>

<p>do Civil Engineering and get an MBA after a few years in the business. If you don’t wanna go back for an MBA, you might end up in project management anyways which makes good money as well.</p>

<p>but why do you mention civil engineering? is there something good about that compared to other majors?</p>

<p>collegebound: it is important that you asked whether you could get rich with an engineering DEGREE, as opposed to “working as an engineer”. For eventually making a lot of money, a BS in engineering is as good as any other degree, and maybe one of the best. This is because with an engineering degree you are pretty much wide open to pursue anything you would like. However, you are extremely unlikely to get rich working in a company in an engineering function. You should, however, make a reasonably comfortable living if you’re good at it.</p>

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Where do you get this info? PMs at where I work for only make 15-20% more than sr. engineer and the sr. engineer only makes low $100’s…</p>

<p>You might want to consider being an actuary…since you mentioned that you like math…actuaries don’t need to go to grad school (which will save you time and money)…and you can definitely make over 200k when you’re middle-aged </p>

<p>See the actuary salary chart based on years experience and exams passed</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.actuaryjobs.com/salary.html[/url]”>http://www.actuaryjobs.com/salary.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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I would consider $115k to be good money.</p>

<p>yeah I have been considering actuary as well because its math and highly marketable. But on the website what does it mean “one exam”, “two exam”, etc.? seems like the more “exams” you take the more money you make</p>

<p>Rich is a relative term.</p>

<p>This damn CC culture is really warping kids’ world perceptions. So many threads asking for a definite route to becoming a hotshot I-banker or CEO…</p>

<p>im a junior in college studying engineering and already im a CEO of 3 major corporations. i don’t know why you other engineering students aren’t as successful as me . . .</p>

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<p>yeah, sorry I didn’t read the thing about 200 k as his goal salary or whatever. Bad answer I guess.</p>

<p>I think a couple standard deviations above the average is rich</p>

<p>but it means nothing if you aren’t financially responsible, the combined income of my parents at one point was 300k but the house is in foreclosure.</p>

<p>I’ve seen this first hand, and i now understand what i have to do.</p>

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<p>In LA it’s OK money… not good, not poor… just OK… In Nebraska, maybe it’s good…</p>